Miss America contestants will no longer be judged on appearances, Miss America Chairwoman Gretchen Carlson announced Tuesday. It’s about time.

“Miss America will represent a new generation of female leaders focused on scholarship, social impact, talent and empowerment,” said the former Miss America. Because of this, the famous swimsuit portion of the competition is no more.

My Stream colleague John Zmirak isn’t joining me in celebrating. He warns these changes “are exactly like those that just happened to the Boy Scouts,” which is now accepting girls. In other words, a rejection of what the thing’s all about. 

John argues that “Attacking the idea of beauty pageants is right up there with attacking masculine chivalry.” But I think he’s wrong. 

Women Want to Be Seen For More Than Our Looks

Full disclosure: I’ve never closely followed the Miss America pageant. It didn’t interest me. The thought of women having to parade in front of strange judges in a bikini and get scored on their hotness in pursuit of a scholarship was particularly distasteful.

John writes that “part of how God made men is intensely visual. We respond to women’s beauty, of face and limb and hair. And wouldn’t you know it, normal women want to be seen that way.”

Yes, God made men to be attracted to women’s beauty, and women generally like that fact. But women don’t want to be seen that way all the time, by everyone. As a single young woman, I wanted single, attractive young men to think I was beautiful. Now, I primarily want my husband to think I’m beautiful.

People whose opinion of my looks I never cared about? Teachers, bosses, male colleagues, and the people determining whether I’d get into college and whether I’d get a scholarship. I wanted them to see my talent. My intelligence. My potential as a future student or colleague. As a Christian, I want them to see Christ.

I wanted them to see what I’d worked hard to achieve, not the symmetry of my face or the proportions of my figure.

Miss America Was Never All About Beauty

As The New York Times reported Tuesday, the decision to scrap the swimsuit competition has been a long time coming. For years, pageant leadership recognized it was at odds with what Miss America was about: empowering women and providing them with academic scholarships. Women who participate must be poised, confident and eloquent under pressure. They must answer questions on tough issues and display finely-honed skills in a talent competition. In light of all that, a bikini show is superficial and unnecessary.

Carlson pointed out Tuesday that the swimsuits are “not a highly rated part of the competition. People actually like the talent part of the competition.” She also noted that many women have said they would love to participate, if only they didn’t have to don bikinis. (This is a sentiment I sympathize with. I participated in several talent contests growing up. The thought of having to wear a Miss America-style bikini as part of those contests — no matter how non-revealing John argues they are — would have mortified me.)

Our Culture Already Over-Emphasizes Appearance

John writes that sometimes women like to have competitions to see who is the most physically beautiful. For some, this is true. And there are still plenty of professional opportunities for that, including other pageants. (Miss USA, not Miss America, has traditionally been the more beauty-focused competition, anyway. Contestants aren’t even required to perform a talent.)

Plus, there are enough informal beauty competitions in our appearance-obsessed, sex-saturated culture already. Having experienced life as a little girl, a teenager and a grown woman, I can attest that females are pressured from the start to look just so. So many of us fall prey to, or constantly battle, the false notions that we must reveal more skin, lose more weight, wear higher heels and pack on more make-up in order to have a chance in the world. Not just romantically, but at all. This is a notion Christians should fight, not foster.

Judging women primarily on their outward beauty is cheap. It overlooks all that women bring to the world. Yes, God made the female figure beautiful and alluring to men. This is something to celebrate, particularly within marriage, but it’s hardly a woman’s number one purpose. The Bible tells women to emphasize our inner beauty over our outer beauty (see 1 Peter 3:3-4).

So when the Miss America Organization, a popular staple of secular culture, moves to do just that, we should applaud, not boo.

Step in the Right Direction

John warns the contest will now devolve into another pawn on the progressive chess board, with males who identify as females participating and so forth. Considering the state of our culture, that may be true. And if it is, that’s a shame. But it won’t be because Miss America decided to focus on women’s brains more than their bodies. And we needn’t revert to judging women on their looks over their accomplishments simply to avoid that possibility. Two wrongs don’t make a right.

Will I be a faithful Miss America viewer from now on? Probably not. Mainly because I don’t watch broadcast TV. But I’m glad for the changes. They’re a step in the right direction, for participants and for our culture. Going forward, I hope more women are praised for their “social impact, talent and empowerment,” rather than the trimness of their waist or the whiteness of their teeth.

“Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.” Proverbs 31:30